


Ladybug

by orphan_account



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, joshler - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-19
Updated: 2016-12-19
Packaged: 2018-09-09 19:58:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8909977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Having a soulmate hadn't really occurred to either Josh or Tyler, at least not enough to bother them. They didn't seem to understand why it mattered so much to everyone else they knew. High school didn't need to get messed up by all that stuff - they had each other, and that's all they needed.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally meant to be a oneshot, but I'm really enjoying how it's turning out so far. Hope you enjoy it!

Tyler Joseph was probably the least subtle person that Josh had ever met, and he thought that might be one of the reasons he liked the other boy so much. Tyler was a talented poet, dealing in metaphor and symbolism and imagery of the subtlest - it just didn't translate to his real-life communications much.

Josh Dun might've been incredibly oblivious, but that wasn't a problem according to Tyler: it was endearing, if anything. And endearing was good, wasn't it? They were best friends, after all. There wasn't much to like about Josh, he thought. 

Watching them both, together, was fascinating. There were no subtleties between them, and yet nothing ever got confronted. How did it work so well, then? What did they have that let them go about things in such an unusual way, living in the world as two instead of one, without ever bothering to give it a name?

That didn't matter to them, not yet. For now, they just really wanted to have lunch.

'Josh, we _just had_ this conversation,' the taller boy complained light-heartedly, nudging his friend's foot with his own. His shoelaces were still soggy from last night; late night forest walks.

'But I'm _hungry_ ,' Josh enthused, 'and I know you are too. I can see it in your eyes.'

'Oh really?' Tyler asked with amusement, raising one eyebrow and laughing a little. 'Tell me what my eyes say, oh psychic one.'

They were sat on their own at a park, on one of the benches. They'd been sitting there for about half an hour at this point, and they'd always sat on that bench - it was just out of the shade's reach, had a little dent on its right side where Josh threw a rock at it once, and was painted a peeling, ladybug red. Josh's hair had been matching it for a couple of months now, but he was thinking of changing it to pink; Tyler had joked that they'd have to repaint the bench as well.

'Two double cheeseburgers, please,' Tyler stated ten minutes later, shuffling his weight between his legs at the till of one of their local fast food places. Josh was taking weird photos of the floor on his phone, but looked up from it for a second.

'Are you paying?' the older boy asked, leaning in to his best friend's side for a moment. Tyler snorted, then sighed.

'I mean,' he started. 'I was gonna eat both of them myself, but...' The redhead wore a face of fake shock and offense, traitorous crinkles giving him away at the corners of his eyes. Tyler giggled. 'Yeah, sure, but you owe me coffee or something.'

They were back outside soon enough, the brunet tugging on Josh's sleeve to lead them back to the park. Their park. But then, when they arrived, they were affronted by a confusing sight: someone was sitting on their bench. The third one in from the left as you were looking at it from the main road, flaking warmly in the sun, the colour of cheap lipstick. It was definitely theirs, and Tyler frowned.

'Dude,' he explained, 'someone's sitting on our bench.'

Josh nodded quietly, already walking over to this stranger. Tyler reached up to undo the top two buttons of his shirt, did the second one back up, then followed his best friend across the street.

'Hey, uhh, man,' he heard Josh saying to the bench thief. He walked over, half attempting to hide his skinny frame behind Josh's muscles. It didn't really work.

'Oh, were you sitting here?' the stranger replied, sounding kind enough. She looked to be in her thirties, probably, (not that either of the boys really knew how to guess age), with shoulder-length auburn hair and a silver scar on the left side of her collarbones.

'Josh threw a rock at it,' Tyler blurted out. He immediately thudded his forehead on the back of Josh's shoulder - what would that even mean to this lady? What would any of what he said mean to someone outside of their friendship? Like a sprinkle of sugar on an injury, he added: 'The bench, I mean.' It probably wasn't very helpful.

'It's fine, don't worry,' the stranger said with a light smile, flicking her book shut with navy lacquered nails. She kept looking between Tyler and Josh in this weird way that didn't make sense to either teenager. 'Are you two...?'

Josh reached behind and grabbed Tyler's hand, pulling his friend gently out of hiding. The lady smiled a little wider, mauve dusting her cheeks as she looked down at the summer grass. The older boy looked at her, questioning, hair like cherries.

'Don't worry about it,' the lady decided on, slipping her novel into the bag at her feet. 'Have a good afternoon!'

'She seems nice,' Tyler pointed out. Josh grinned in agreement, gesturing for them to sit back down. They were still holding hands.


End file.
